1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to gloves for the human hand which are particularly useful in participating in activities which include the clinching of the hand for substantially long periods of time. More particularly, this invention relates to a glove specifically designed to provide expandable zones over the metacarpalphalangeal joints which allows for expansion of the glove at selected locations in both the horizontal and vertical plane.
2. Description of the Related Art
Glove construction for protection of the human hand is well known. Moreover, gloves have been designed for specific uses and particularly for specific and various athletic activities. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,389,601, teaches a glove particularly for use as a batting glove in baseball and softball which includes padding over selected pulleys and tendons of the fingers to prevent injury when striking a ball with a bat, particularly an aluminum bat. U.S. Pat. No. 3,175,226, for example, teaches a dress glove construction which completely covers the fingers and includes resiliently expandable materials in selected areas to accommodate hands of different sizes. U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,609 teaches a glove which includes shock absorbing cells disposed at selected portions along the top of the glove and U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,980 teaches a glove with a foam pad in the palm portion of the glove. Other prior art references attempt to provide sport gloves for supporting and stabilizing the wrist and the hand.
In activities which require the clinching of the hand, such as the gripping of handle bars of a bicycle or a motorcycle or ski sticks in cross-country skiing, the hands and particularly the fingers may be clenched for long periods of time. Thus, it is important that the blood circulation in the hands and the fingers function comfortably. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,997,922, teaches a glove particularly for use in cross-country skiing which is provided with cuts along the knuckles with pieces inserted therein having a larger diameter in the longitudinal direction of the glove than the respective dimension of the cuts.